


Take Me Out

by SeaofSin



Series: Team Bonding [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Baseball, Baseball, Clint is done, Crack, F/M, Thor is having a blast, compared to most of my stuff anyhow, dumb humor, light maxicest, maxicest, stupid crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-27 15:31:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5054125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaofSin/pseuds/SeaofSin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Avengers decide to attempt a game of baseball.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Me Out

Despite all the things that could have (and had) gone wrong during their ill-fated camping trip, Steve still insisted on team bonding activities.

"And what good is team bonding if all it does is make us hate each other a little bit more?" Pietro asked when Steve had called for an activity to do together during their lunch break, shooting him a distasteful look as he wolfed down his food before snagging a few fries from Wanda. Wanda simply chuckled as she saw the blue blur; he must have thought she wouldn't notice.

"Okay, I know the camp in trip didn't end well, but I'd really like us to learn to work together and trust each other. We've got a bigger team than ever. It makes it easier if we all like each other," Steve explained, frowning at Pietro's outright disgust at the very thought.

"Didn't stop you guys before," Pietro replied, smirking.

"Contrary to popular belief, we got along just fine," Steve said, narrowing his eyes. "But that is beside the point. What activities are we interested in doing together?"

"Maybe a group game night?" Rhodey offered, looking up from his sushi with a smile.

"Last time we tried that, Bruce almost lost his mind when he landed on Boardwalk," Tony chuckled, gesturing to the embarrassed doctor.

"Well, to be fair, I think Monopoly brings out the savage in everyone," Bruce mumbled, flushed with embarrassment.

"Okay, so game night is out. But still, games do help people work together... How about a team sport instead? We could get out there, stretch our muscles and show off our skills," Rhodey said.

"Oh! What about baseball?" Clint shouted, an all too gleeful look on his face.

Steve seemed to light up at the suggestion. "That's not a bad idea. What do the rest of you think?" he asked, looking over the remaining Avengers.

There was a quiet murmur amongst the group, before it was agreed upon that the group would be playing baseball.

Wanda was less than thrilled at the thought.

Baseball. Of all the things it could have been, it just had to be baseball. With a long sigh, she glanced over at Pietro, seeing he was just as excited about this prospect as she was, and offered him a few more fries in sympathy.

A week later, the Avengers found themselves packing lunches (careful to check expiration dates, a hard lesson learned from their last team bonding experience) and heading out to the nearest baseball field found via Internet maps.

Everyone was less than pleased with what they saw. The field had obviously not been attended to for the longest time, with knee high grass growing in the outfields, and the clay surrounding the bases damp and sticky as the group moved out towards the pitcher's mound to divide themselves into two teams.

It had been agreed upon before they got into the car that to avoid bias towards the incredibly powerful individuals, the teams would be drawn from a hat.

Pietro had, of course, complained, arguing that he might be separated from his darling sister, and refused to agree upon such a method.

"I'm not going to be on a different team from her! We work together, or not at all," he had said, a grimace on his face.

"It's only for a few hours. Besides, you'll see me the whole time," Wanda said softly, not wanting to stir up a scene. As much as she wanted to be on her brother's side, it wasn't really worth it to start a war over something so simple. Now if only Pietro would see it that way...

"See? She's okay with it. Besides, it might be good to go against each other," Steve tried to argue, to no avail. When Pietro had his mind set on something, it would take some sort of miracle to make it shift.

"Nuh-uh. I'm not playing unless I'm on her team," Pietro said.

Tony gave a lengthy sigh, rubbing his temples. "Well, fine. We can put them on the same slip of paper. If one person gets them, the other person draws two slips next time."

The team captains had been decided much earlier, with Steve as one and Clint as the other, (Team Hawk versus Team Eagle, Natasha had joked, earning a playful swat from Clint). Bruce had opted to not play the game, and instead act as umpire, praying that it would be somewhat less stressful.

Sam grabbed the hat and shuffled the slips of paper inside for a quick moment before extending it forward, allowing the two team captains to begin their draws.

Clint was the first to go, pulling a slip of paper between his fingers and reading the name aloud. "Sam, my man, you're the first," he called, patting him on the shoulder with a grin.

Steve simply nodded, clearly unhappy his best friend wasn't going to be on his team, and drew a name. "Thor, get over here."

Thor bounded up cheerfully, and Clint drew another name. "Tony."

Pietro and Wanda were the next to be called by Steve, and Clint drew Natasha and Rhodey's names- leaving Vision on Steve's team by default- before suddenly frowning, glancing between his team and the other.

"This is bullshit!" he said loudly. "You got all the superhumans, and I'm stuck with the rest?"

"We drew names, it wasn't intentional," Steve said. "We could do a redraw-"

"Hell no! I'm keeping my team," Clint replied, crossing his arms stubbornly. "Superhuman or not, I'm sure we can beat you."

"Your funeral," Pietro said with a cheeky smirk, and Wanda simply gave an exasperated sigh as the team pulled off to the side.

First thing was to lay down ground rules, which Steve immediately lead off with. "We're home team, so we're batting first. Pietro, no cheating. That means no using your 'speed mode' to guarantee a hit. Just swing whenever."

"That's not fair, singling me out right away?" Pietro snorted. "Besides, that's counterproductive to my mind. I'm always in 'speed mode', it's not as if there's an off switch."

"Then pretend you missed, I don't care! This is supposed to be a fun game, let's not ruin it by cheating," Steve said, completely exasperated already.

"If it's supposed to be fun, then why are you putting a hamper on mine?" Pietro said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Wanda, tell him to stop complaining," Steve pleaded.

Wanda simply smirked, her brother's antics highly amusing to her. He's always been her best friend, and she could never quite find it in her to be angry with him over his impatience.

"These are legitimate questions!" Pietro objected.

"Question?" came Thor's voice from behind the twins.

"Yes, Thor?"

"My knowledge of human games is somewhat lacking. Do we throw the bat as well when we swing?" Wanda has never seen such a hopeful look on anyone's face before. Throwing things was Thor's forte, and he would certainly be pleased if the game required it.

"Uh, no, sorry. Don't throw things, unless you're the pitcher," Steve replied, completely nonplussed.

"May I have the esteemed role of pitcher, then?" Thor asked.

"I don't know how fair that would be for the other team... but I suppose so," Steve said, glancing over to Clint's huddled team, who were currently hyping themselves up.

"So why does he get to have his fun, but not me?" Pietro objected.

"Pietro, I am this close to booting you off the team and asking Bruce instead," Steve threatened.

"Yes, because he's clearly dressed for the occasion," Pietro said, chuckling as he looked over to Bruce, who was currently dressed in slacks and a button-up shirt, with somewhat nice leather shoes to top it all off.

A long, irritated sigh followed. "Listen, Thor can pitch because Clint is probably going to be their pitcher. It's a bit more even," Steve said.

Wanda simply sighed, and pulled him away from the group for a moment. "Pietro, please don't make this worse than it is. You don't like team sports, I know that, but for my sanity, please don't start fights," she said softly, grasping his fingers between her own.

His face softened at the gesture, relaxing. Only Wanda would ever be able to do this for him, and she was glad for it.

"Only for you, Wanda," he agreed, pulling her closer to kiss her forehead.

After the rules were hashed out and positions decided, the game began, with Clint on the pitcher's mound, Sam on first base, Natasha on third, and Rhodey and Tony thrown into the overgrown outfield, the blades of grass sweeping over their knees.

Thor was the first to bat, knuckles white from the tight grip he held on his bat. The first pitch went by without a swing, and was declared a strike. The second pitch was well hit, with the ball making an arc towards the center of the outfield, and Tony and Rhodey made a mad dash towards it, tossing it to Sam.

Thor began charging towards first base, bat surprisingly still in hand, greatly shocking Sam. Sam shrieked and dove out of the way, allowing Thor to take first base, which he stood on proudly, beaming at his teammates and offering a friendly wave.

"Thor, you can't just charge at someone with a bat!" Sam shouted, dropping the ball in his glove.

Perplexed, Thor turned to face him. "But Steve said to not throw the bat," he said.

Steve sighed, racing over to the first base to discuss the issue. "Thor, I meant not to throw it at people, or towards the outfield. You just throw it to the side when you run the bases," he explained.

Pietro simply snorted as the two captains began to discuss how legal that play was, and if it should still be counted, and turned to Wanda. "On a scale of one to ten, how bad do you think Barton is regretting his decision?" he whispered, and Wanda swore she could feel his grin against her skin.

"Eleven," she snickered, kissing his cheek gently.

The argument was ended by Bruce, who decided to just call it a bad hit, and have Thor run again. "This time not with the bat," he said wearily, slowly slinking back to home plate and pinching the bridge of his nose.

This time, the ball managed to fly over Tony and Rhodey's heads, landing in the dense forest behind, and officially declared a home run, though Thor seemed to be mildly confused when his teammates kept yelling for him to "run home", and instead ran straight for the benches. "Why would we go home? Is the game really that short?"

Steve was once again baffled. "No, 'home' is just slang for the first plate. You're supposed to cross it if you want to earn points."

"So did we not earn a point then?" Thor asked, mildly concerned.

"No, it's fine, I counted it," Bruce said, handing the bat over to Steve. "Who's next?"

Pietro shot up without a word, and took the bat from Steve's hands before turning to Wanda. "Kiss for luck?" he joked, leaning in close.

"Who says you need luck?" Wanda said, pushing him towards the field. It wasn't that she didn't want to kiss him, she did, badly, but it was more that almost everyone else would be uncomfortable if she did. The Avengers tried their best to be open-minded, and to ignore the twins and their less-than-conventional relationship, but even then, Wanda couldn't help but feel there was a certain silent push for them to not act on it. Wanda didn't mind much, but Pietro did, and he seemed somewhat dejected after her rejection.

Of course, that didn't mean she wouldn't apologize for it behind closed doors, with all the kisses he could want.

Instead of dwelling, she smiled as he ran out towards the field, taunting Clint.

"You talk big for a little kid," Clint said, halfway smirking.

"Aren't you a little too old to be playing? You might break a hip," Pietro replied, making a few practice swings of the bat before stepping up to the plate.

"Just shut up," Clint said, almost in a snarl, his forearms clenching as he gripped the ball tighter.

The ball was tossed and hit immediately, soaring over Rhodey and Tony's heads to into the forest. By the time the ball had landed, Pietro had already rushed around the bases an almost uncountable number of times, and skidded over home one last time with a smirk.

"So, does that count as multiple runs?"

"No, I'm counting one," Bruce sighed, already fed up with this. Three pitches in and already exhausted? Wanda thought this some new record.

Pietro simply snickered as he made his way back to the beach, sitting down beside Wanda with a 'thud' and a sunny grin on his face. "So, how about a kiss now?" he whispered in her ear.

Wanda simply patted his shoulder, leaning in to whisper "Later."

That was enough for him, and he settled back in his seat, an arm lazily slung around her shoulders and eyes fixed on the field as Barton began to grow increasingly frustrated, judging from the way he moved and his facial expressions.

"This sucks," Clint said, not so quietly, drawing a snicker from Natasha.

"Steve offered another draw," she reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah. Hindsight is a bitch," Clint replied, waving a flimsy hand at her.

Steve was up to bat, and at this point Clint was seething. "Please tell me you're not going to hit a home run too," he said, half-joking, half desperate.

"Well, we shall just have to see," Steve replied, rolling his shoulders and moving up to home plate.

He did not, in fact, hit a home run, but rather had a well hit ball that went straight through the middle, unable to be caught due to lack of second base man, and landed somewhere in the middle of the long grass of the outfield. Steve immediately tore off into a mad dash, rounding first base as Rhodey and Tony began to panic, screaming that they couldn't see where the ball landed, and were wildly pushing back the overgrowth to begin a search.

Clint grit his teeth, clearly fed up with the immense disadvantage his all-too-human team had, and, without warning, flung his glove off to the side as he charged out towards the bases, tackling Steve to the ground to prevent him from stealing more bases. In the field, Tony and Rhodey continued their mad scramble through the terrain, shouting at each other over who was supposed to chase and catch that particular ball before it fell.

Steve was unamused. "Barton, what the hell?" he shrieked, drawing laughter from Wanda, who wasn't even quite sure to make of this unusual spectacle.

"You guys cheat, then so will I. I'm an assassin, Rogers. I adapt," he hissed, struggling to keep Steve from escaping.

Thor was entirely bewildered, eyes narrowed and brows furrowed at the sight. "Is this part of the game? I do not recall it when I watched instructions on the computer," he said.

"Oh yeah, this is totally part of it. And if our teammates get tackled, we're supposed to tackle the other guy," Pietro chuckled, deciding to mess with the confused Thor.

"No, that's no where in the rule book-" Vision began, but to no avail. Without warning, Thor charged onto the field and tackled Clint, effectively trapping Clint between himself and Steve.

"What?! Natasha, help! I'm being smothered!" Clint cried, flailing his only free arm towards her.

Natasha seemed to take great delight in the unfolding events, and his her smiling lips behind her fingers as she raced over to aid Clint. "Thor, tackling isn't part of the game, Clint was just being a moron," she explained as she guided him off the other two.

"Yeah, thanks, Nat," Clint whined, clutching his sore shoulders while from the outfield triumphant cries from Tony and Rhodey rang out, and Rhodey proudly held the recovered ball over his head before tossing it to Sam.

"You guys suck," Clint complained.

"We could still switch a few teammates, if you like, help even things out. I mean, this is still the first inning," Steve offered.

Pietro's head shot up at this, eyes widening. "First? There's more? How many innings are we supposed to play?"

"Nine," Vision supplied helpfully.

Pietro was stunned. "Oh, fuck me."

Wanda snorted at that, grinning at him. Ever the impatient one, Pietro immediately began to attempt to bargain for a shorter game.

"We can't have nine! We'll all grow old and die before the fourth of these has even begun!" he complained, toeing at the dust below and trembling anxiously.

"Pietro, calm down, it's only a game," Wanda said soothingly, gripping his fingers in her own to gently brings them to her lips and kiss the tips. A calming, familiar gesture would hopefully ease his racing mind.

"Wanda, I can barely get through one of these hellish rounds, and they're saying there are nine?" he complained, feebly attempting to pull his hands back and retain his fury.

"It's bonding time," she reminded him.

"It's torture," he whined, pouting and furrowing his brow. "Besides, the last time we tried team bonding, all of our things got swept down the river, I got poison ivy, and we had nothing to eat but spoiled hot dogs!"

"Well, the game's done anyways. I think I pulled something after being sandwiched like that," Clint said as he walked past the bench, moving himself towards the van. "Why is it every time we do team bonding stuff, I'm the one who gets hurt?"

"Bad luck?" Sam suggested.

"Somethin' like that," Clint said, stretching. "Come on you two, let's get on the road. I need an ice pack."

"Just a moment," Wanda said, waiting for the rest to shuffle away, leaving her and Pietro in relative solitude before she reached up to kiss him.

"I swear, you're the only reason I put up with this shit," Pietro murmured affectionately, tangling his fingers in her hair, and a stupid smile on his face.

"You want to hear a secret?" Wanda said gently, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "I feel the same."


End file.
